Virgnia Woolf Essay

In chapter four of Virginia Woolf's essay, A Room of One's Own, she discusses her ideas on three important topics: self-sufficiency, connections throughout history, and a women's attraction to writing novels. The turning point for female writers, from the author's point of view, is the example of self-sufficiency provided by Aphra Behn, a 17th-century novelist. The author uses selection of detail in contrasting the career of Aphra Behn and her influence on women writers in the future. Secondly, according to Woolf, the connection or dependency that writers had with one another throughout history framed the literary world and, no single women or masterpiece stands on its own. Here, Woolf uses parallel structure to focus on the purpose of authors impacts on other author's throughout time with conjunctions. Finally, women become accomplished novelists since, in most cases, this was the only genre within the literary world that was available to them. Woolf uses imagery to show how woman of the eighteenth century are always interrupted with specific detailed examples.
The turning point for female writers, from the author's point of view, is the example of self-sufficiency provided by Aphra Behn, a 17th-century novelist. Behn is the first female writer to have "freedom of the mind," and Woolf believes she inspires other girls to follow her example of self-sufficiency. Behn is a middle class woman affected by the loss of her husband and has to find new ways to live and make money. Woolf uses selection of detail to show how hard Behn has to work and the hardships she has to face without a husband to support her. The author states, about Behn that: